1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a thermotherapeutic apparatus for applying microwaves to a human body for various therapeutic purposes, and more particularly to a medical apparatus using microwaves for thermotherapy which allows a patient to get on and off a treating bed without difficulty in a natural motion posture with the help of a helper or without help and lie down on the treating bed with safety under the treatment.
2. Prior Art
Microwaves having wavelength of less than 6 to 15 meters travel linearly and can be focused on a desired part in a human body. By irradiating the microwaves from the outside of the human body even clothed, the microwaves can heat to the depth of skeletal tissues thereby to subject the human body to thermal treatment. Such thermal treatment using microwaves are being increasingly studied.
The technical system for applications of microwaves having wavelength on the order of 10 cm to a living body for thermal treatment has been established. In the technical system for thermotherapy the irradiation dose and direction of microwaves applied to the living body are predetermined and successively regulated during the treatment so as to accurately control the temperature which rises locally on the outer layer portion or interior of the living body with the microwave irradiation. With such a medical system, thermal treatment having curative effects can be expected. Thus, in recent years the thermotherapy using microwaves have rapidly drawn wide-spread attention for its usefulness in biomedical science.
The inventor of this invention, a pioneer in the use of microwaves for thermotherapy, has successfully developed and proposed a medical apparatus using microwaves for thermotherapy in Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. HEI 1-59146(A) (Corresp. to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/198,933). The prior art medical apparatus for thermal treatment comprises a protective frame disposed on a treating bed in a state openable upward on its hinges. However, the protective frame is massive because it is provided with microwave irradiating means and so on. When a patient to be treated is made to lie down on the treating bed, the heavy protective frame must be opened upward. In a case that the patient cannot lie down on the treating bed by himself, the work of placing the patient on the treating bed generally requires two or three helpers, and besides, imposes much labor to the helpers. In a case of the patient with an advanced disease, the patient often complains of bodily pain because the patient is compelled to assume an unnatural posture in lying down on the treating bed.
Furthermore, the conventional medical apparatus noted above is disadvantageous in that the protective frame is necessarily formed of massive frameworks having high strength so as to support the microwave irradiating means, thereby to increase in weight and add to the size.